Gift of Spirit
by tobiz9
Summary: Over the summer before her seventh year, Hermione lands herself in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, along with Draco Malfoy. What happened to each of them, and why is Draco acting differently? Disregards Books 6&7. Sirius is alive, Lucius is not in Azkaban.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, I've got a new story for you all! Don't worry, this doesn't mean that I've given up on "Gazing at a Broken Heart", but I'm working on both of them. I just had this one in my head and I had to get it out. Enjoy!**

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**Gift of Spirit**

**Chapter 1**

**Hermione  
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The feeling is awful. I ache all over, and I have a dreadful feeling like any minute now I'll be horribly sick everywhere. I am vaguely aware that I've been Apparated somewhere, and I hear people yelling, though I can't make out the words. I peel my eyelids open, and glance around my blurry surroundings. People are bustling about, chattering noisily as they hurry to take care of me. It seems like I am in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts. Of course, I can't be sure – my mind is all fuzzy. It appears, though, that I am not the only patient there. And with that last thought, darkness takes me.

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I wake up sometime later, I'm not sure how much later, feeling much better. I've still got a rather nasty headache, but I no longer ache or feel the need to vomit. Sitting up in bed, I take in my surroundings. I was right – I am in the Hospital Wing … and I am not alone. There is one other person lying two beds to my left, by the window. He is lying on his side facing away from me, so all I can see is his hair. That's all I've got to see to know who he is. I mean, who else do I know that has short blond hair nearly as white as the bed sheets themselves? But why is Draco Malfoy here?

I haven't got much time to think that over, however, as at that moment, Madam Pomfrey rushes in, her eyes lighting up when she sees me.

"Ah, Miss Granger, you're finally awake!" she exclaims, coming over to me and setting a tray of food on a small table beside my bed. "Do you feel well enough to eat something?"

"Yes, I think so," I say, nodding, and she smiles. "I still have a headache, though. Is there something you can give me for that?"

"Oh, yes, of course, I will be right back. In the meanwhile, eat up," she orders, placing the tray gently on my lap, before hurrying off to get me a headache relieving potion or something.

Obediently, I gobble up my eggs and toast, and drink down a glass of orange juice. I hadn't realised how hungry I was until just now. Madam Pomfrey is back a minute later, carrying with her another tray of food, and a glass filled with some sort of purple liquid.

"Here you go, dear, drink up," she says, handing me the glass and vanishing my empty tray with her wand. "It may make you a bit drowsy after ten minutes or so," she adds as a warning, before walking over to the other bed where the blond Slytherin is lying. "Mr. Malfoy!" she barks when she gets close to him. "It's time to wake up!"

I notice she isn't speaking to him nearly as nicely as she did to me. In fact, she's speaking to him rather irritably, as if she really does not like him. I don't blame her, of course, he's a bloody git, but still, I don't think she should be doing that.

I drink down the potion she gave me quickly, making a face at the horrid taste, but sigh contently when my headache disappears. I look back over at the other two people in the room, and see Malfoy slowly shifting into a sitting position in his bed, wincing slightly in pain, and glaring at Madam Pomfrey.

"Don't look at me that way, boy, don't forget that I'm the reason you're alive right now," Madam Pomfrey snaps angrily, setting the tray down loudly on a table, making Malfoy jump slightly before his emotionless mask returns.

"I didn't ask for your help," he snarls, his nasty glare back in place.

"Maybe not, but you were brought here by someone who wanted me to help you, so I have an obligation to get you better, whether you like it or not," she bites back. "And trust me, I don't like this anymore than you do."

With that, she takes the tray and sets in roughly on his lap, then walks away quickly. Malfoy growls deep in his throat, staring at the tray as if it's at fault, then he looks up at me, and I gasp at what I see. This is the first time that I realise exactly why he is at the Hospital Wing. He has a painful looking black right eye, and a nasty bruise over his left cheek, flawing the perfect creamy white skin of his face. He also has swollen and cut lip, and a deep cut over his right eyebrow. His right arm is in a cast, held close to his body by a white sling. That's all I can see, since the rest of his body is covered by a hospital gown and bed sheets. What happened to him?

"What are you looking at, Mudblood?" he growls nastily, his face curling into a sneer.

"Oh, nothing, Malfoy, just admiring whoever did that to you," I shoot back lividly. "You've had it coming for a long time. Won't you tell me who it was so I can properly thank them?"

Despite the fact that he is obviously hurt pretty badly, he makes it so easy for me to still be angry with him, though I kind of feel bad for saying it when his face pales considerably.

"Shut up, Granger, you don't know what you're talking about," he snaps, turning back to his tray and picking up a fork with his left hand, stabbing at his eggs clumsily.

I wrinkle my nose and look away, deeply annoyed with him. He is so infuriating sometimes … no, _all of the time_!

A moment later, I suddenly feel very tired, and I feel myself slowly drift off to sleep once more.

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**I know that was rather short - I originally had it connected to what what will now be Chapter 2, and I just felt it was too long.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Gift of Spirit**

**Chapter 2**

**Hermione  
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I am woken a while later by two familiar voices arguing heatedly – Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, Malfoy's best friend. By the tone in which they're arguing, it sounds as if they are trying to be quiet, but are simply getting too upset to care anymore. I open my eyes and glance over at them, trying not to let them know I'm awake. My curiosity has been peaked – I've never seen these two argue before. Zabini is standing by Malfoy's bed, staring down at the blond with a look of disbelief and anger on his face. Malfoy is glaring back at his friend, his features contorted into a mask of fury. I've never seen him looking so angry. It's rather frightening – he looks so much like his father.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Blaise?" he snarls furiously. "I have no bloody choice!"

"And I've told you that you do!" Zabini shoots back just as angrily. "Really, Draco, listen to yourself! What will it take for us to get through to you? I understand that your life is hard, but you're bloody well not making it any better! Snape has offered you protection, for Merlin's sake! Why can't you take him up on that?"

_What are they talking about?_

"Blaise," Malfoy growls in a strangely calm voice, "just leave it alone. I won't go over this with you again. You're wasting your breath. Just … just go away."

With that, he rolls over in bed, turning away from his best friend. Zabini growls in annoyance, kicking the leg of Malfoy's bed angrily, making the bed move a little, but getting no reaction out of Malfoy.

"You're pushing everyone away, _Malfoy_," he sneers, glaring at the blond. "Soon you'll have no one left."

When Malfoy once again gives no reaction, Zabini turns and starts walking away, but stops suddenly when he sees I'm awake. For a moment, he looks rather shocked, but then he seems to compose himself, rearranging his features into a very Malfoy-like smirk, and turns back to his friend.

"Oh, by the way, the Mudblood's awake," he drawls, then, strangely, grins at me and walks out.

Zabini's statement, unfortunately, gets a reaction out of Malfoy. He sits up quickly in his bed and glares at me with barely concealed rage. Just like his father. I've never really felt scared of him until now. He always just seemed like a pathetic bully to me, but now he actually seems like he could be dangerous. I can feel fear start to build up inside of me, but, luckily, at that point, Madam Pomfrey shuffles in, making Malfoy turn away after shooting me one last angry look.

"What has happened here, Mr. Malfoy? I saw Mr. Zabini walk out of here looking quite troubled. You shouldn't be getting yourself upset in your condition."

"Stop treating me like I've got some sort of disease!" Malfoy snaps at her, angrily. "I haven't got a _condition_. I'm perfectly capable of getting into arguments, as you very well know."

"You'll wear yourself out, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey reasons, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "After what you've been through, you need to save up your energy, not waste it on ridiculous arguments."

"After what I've been through?" Malfoy snarls, obviously getting angrier. "You've got NO IDEA what I've been through! You've got no right to be lecturing me about what I should and should not do, because you don't know what it's like! I've taken care of myself, on my own, for YEARS, and I don't need YOU to suddenly come round and tell me how to handle this!"

Madam Pomfrey's face has gone all red and it is clear that she is struggling to keep herself calm. She swiftly pulls the curtains shut around Malfoy's bed, evidently in an effort to keep what she is about to say private, but she is obviously so upset that her 'whisper' to the blond is actually pretty loud, and I can still hear her.

"You were half-dead, Mr. Malfoy, when you were brought here, in case you forgot. You were still unconscious two days after I had taken care of most of your more serious injuries. You had three broken ribs, one of which had punctured a lung, and you weren't breathing properly. Do you know what happened to your arm, Mr. Malfoy? You have what is known as a 'spiral fracture'. It is caused only when the bone is twisted so hard that it is forced to break, which means someone did this to you, but I have yet to get a straight answer out of you as to what exactly happened. Do you understand, Mr. Malfoy, how hard it is for me to treat you when I don't know what happened?"

"You don't need to know what happened; it's none of your business!" the blond retorts, irritably. "You just need to heal me, that's all! You can obviously see what's wrong – it doesn't matter what actually happened! And my ribs still hurt, by the way!"

"Well, I'm sure they do, Mr. Malfoy, and they will for a while. Ribs are not easy to heal. They should be bothering you for a couple more weeks. Now, if you've had quite enough arguing by now, which I have, I'm going to check on my other patient. Unless you need anything more?"

"Not from you, I don't," I hear Malfoy growl softly.

A moment later, the curtains are once again thrown open, and a very exasperated looking Madam Pomfrey steps out, walking over to me.

"How are you feeling, Miss Granger?" she asks, clearly glad to be away from Malfoy.

"I feel fine, actually," I reply, my thoughts still on both of the strange exchanges I just heard. "Do I really still have to be here, Madam Pomfrey? I really do feel fine."

"I'm sure you do," the witch sighs softly, "but I'm afraid you've got to stay here for at least a week. There may be some more side-effects from the potion that haven't appeared yet."

With that, she offers me a small smile and walks out of the room, leaving me alone with Malfoy, and my thoughts.


End file.
